At the Rooster Teeth Expo, Halo 4 developers 343 Industries revealed Forge – the map editor of Halo – is returning in Halo 4. The new engine and small improvements make a big different to the all-gray and sometimes-intimidating editing tool.

Forge is back in Halo 4, and isn’t completely grey: it’s grey and white

Forge is returning in Halo 4, 343 Industries has confirmed, and improvement also. At the Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX), the developer’s unveiling a magnets feature to snap objects together and dynamic lighting to create a greater visual variety.

Dynamic lighting means that when an object is dropped light and shadows will be case, and when you’re in Spartan form playing the map. In Reach, maps are literally all-grey. As a result it’s hard to distinguish where you are on the map.

That should also mean that if you create a completely closed base, it’s very dark. That would be pretty awesome for creating puzzle maps, where specific areas of the map are lit.

There are 3 environments in total. 343 Industries only showed the Forerunner design. Another is probably Covenant.

Magnets is a pretty logical addition, but will help everyone in increasing productivity: objects literally snap together, removing the need to precisely line up objects using the shoulder buttons or left analog stick when in position. It also means you won’t accidentally move an object, meaning time spent correcting the mistake.

Trait zones can also be created, when grant abilities when in the area. Examples shown were increased jump height, an overshield and increased speed. It’s good for bringing variety to maps rather than having to do everything in a single take.

As mentioned the shotgun is returning; there’s really nothing to say apart from it looks similar to Halo: Reach’s and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary’s model, with an all-black aesthetic.

Longbow Played

The Rooster Teeth team also played against the community and a team of professional female (yes, girls play games!) Halo players. Rooster Teeth got trounced, but more importantly the map shown was Longbow. A vehicular, Big Team Battle, snow-covered map, it seemed a solid map for larger games. Most of the combat was outside, though, so we’ll have to see if vehicles dominate the gameplay.

Written by:Jon Charles Jonathan is a writer on the technology and video game industries. He is comfortable with using Mac OS X and Windows; he began using Windows with Windows XP during his early double-digit years, and started using OS X in 2009 on a MacBook Pro. He began gaming on the SNES back in the 90s.